FAIRHOPE, Alabama – Talk about tapping a pent-up demand: The Fairhope Brewing Co. drew an overflow crowd Sunday afternoon when it opened its doors to the public as Alabama's newest independent brewery.

Within the gleaming taproom at 914 Nichols Ave., just east of U.S. 98, the partners in the venue were giddy as patrons began lining up a half-hour before the door opened. “I still feel like I’m dreaming,” said brewmaster Dan Murphy, as he waited for his Everyday Ale and Section Street Wheat to get their first large-scale taste tests.

Partners in the business signed a lease in June and began equipping their facility in early October. That’s an ongoing process: Brian Kane explained that they’re about to install two new fermentation tanks, for a total of five. Each can hold a 310-gallon batch.

In addition to Kane and Murphy, the Fairhope Brewing team includes Michele Kane, Jim Foley and Gabe Harris. Their venture is one of a dozen microbreweries now operating in Alabama, and the only one south of Montgomery. That would suggest there’s a powerful thirst to be quenched on the coast, but Brian Kane said the company’s strategy is to take it smooth and steady.

“Anybody in Fairhope that wants us can have us,” he said, when asked where his company’s products will be available. As the brewery ramps up production, it’ll expand its distribution to include other Baldwin County cities and eventually Mobile.

After Sunday’s soft opening, the Fairhope Brewing Co. taproom will be open for Monday night’s BCS championship game. For the rest of the month, it’ll open 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. It’ll offer more hours, and more beers, after a grand opening a few weeks down the road. The price is a straightforward $5 per glass, tax included; the menu is limited to pretzels and such.

Brewmaster Murphy, a page designer and beer columnist for the Press-Register in a former life, said his first two offerings are more about enticing patrons to “just expand their palates a little bit” than hitting them with radical tastes. Casual beer connoisseurs will find the Everyday Ale akin to many mainstream beers, notable mainly for richer flavor and more body. The Section Street Wheat exemplifies a style known for its mild sweetness, rather than heavy hop bitterness. (An American pale ale and a black IPA soon will round out the lineup, with a “Jubilee Series” of specialty brews to follow.)

The beer flowed freely on Sunday as dozens of people crowded in for a first taste. James Delaney, who staked his claim as the establishment’s first paying customer, said he wasn’t just impressed by the tastes, he was impressed by the reactions around him.

“People are just saying ‘This is good beer,’” he said. “I love hearing that.”

Also among the crowd were some fellow Fairhope business owners, Katie and Joseph Bolton of Pro Cycle and Triathlon. Katie Bolton said she was impressed with the way Fairhope Brewing Co. had formed relationships with other local businesses, including hers, where it will sponsor an amateur riding team.

On a more personal level, Bolton said she was looking forward to having the taproom as a post-ride gathering spot. As she waited for her husband to fetch beers from the bustling bar, she said the future seemed to look bright for the venture.

“I told the guys we needed to get here early,” she said. “They didn’t believe me, but I was right.”